Are electric vehicle batteries being underused? A review of current practices and sources of circularity

The increasing demand for Lithium-ion batteries for Electric Vehicle calls for the adoption of sustainable practices and a switch towards a circular economy-based system to ensure that the electrification of transportation does not come at a high environmental cost. While driving patterns have not changed much over the years, the current Electric Vehicle market is evolving towards models with higher battery capacities. In addition, these batteries are considered to reach the End of Life at 70–80% State of Health, regardless of their capacity and application requirements. These issues may cause an underuse of the batteries and, therefore, hinder the sustainability of the Electric Vehicle. The goal of this study is to review and compare the circular processes available around Electric Vehicle batteries. The review highlights the importance of prioritizing the first-life of the battery onboard, starting with reducing the nominal capacity of the models. In cases where the battery is in risk of reaching the End of Life with additional value, Vehicle to Grid is encouraged over the deployment of second-life applications, which are being strongly promoted through institutional fundings in Europe. As a result of the identified research gaps, the methodological framework for the estimation of a functional End of Life is proposed, which constitutes a valuable tool for sustainable decision-making and allows to identify a more accurate End of Life, rather than considering the fixed threshold assumed in the literature.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 963580. This funding includes funds to support research work and openaccess publications.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Economic effects of water use and landholding scale to farming in South Asia: evidences from Indo-Gangetic basin

Agricultural development / Irrigation water / Water use / Water allocation / Land ownership / Economic aspects / River basins / Models / South Asia / Indo-Gangetic Basin

Geography and Development in Africa: Overview and Implications for Regional Cooperation

Geography causes African countries to experience a ?proximity gap?. To overcome this gap a ?big push? may be needed in infrastructure. The cross-border nature of such infrastructure requires regional cooperation in at least four issues: transport infrastructure, trade facilitation, decentralization and local economic development, and migration. Because incentives for regional cooperation in these aspects may not be symmetrical, commitments made may not be credible. Therefore, transport infrastructure at least should be bound in WTO rules on trade facilitation to provide third party enforcement. Incentives for cooperation could also be improved with transport corridor design and collective peer pressure by landlocked countries. Regional cooperation could be supported by the international community with aid, the assurance of full implementation and adherence to international law on the rights of landlocked countries to access to the sea, the extension of appropriate trade preferences to African regions and ensuring consistency of international agreements and trade preferences with current regional integration initiatives.Africa, poverty gaps, proximity, geographical economics, infrastructure, regional cooperation

Analysis and modeling of innovations in the global microalgae lipids market

Microalgae lipids offer numerous advantages over those of plants and animals, enabling the sustainable commercialization of high value-added products in different markets. Although these markets are in a vertiginous annual expansion, technological life cycle modeling is a tool that has been rarely used for microalgae. Life cycle modeling is capable of assisting with decision-making based on data and is considered as a versatile model, usable in multiple software analyzing and diagnostic tasks. Modeling technological trends makes it possible to categorize the development level of the market and predict phase changes, reducing uncertainties and increasing investments. This study aims to fill this gap by performing a global analysis and modeling of microalgal lipid innovations. The Espacenet and Orbit platforms were used by crossing the keywords "microalgae", "lipid*", and the IPC code C12 (biochemistry and microbiology). Different sigmoid growth models were used in the present study. A successive repetition of the Chlorella genus category was found in the keyword clusters regarding extraction and separation of lipids. The life cycle S curve indicates a market starting at the maturity phase, where the BiDoseResp model stands out. The main countries and institutions at the technological forefront are shown, as well as potential technological domains for opening new markets.FAPESB-Research Support Foundation of the State of Bahia - BOL0642/2020, 001info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Accelerating the Transition towards Solid-state Lighting: Challenges for the Public Sector to Deploy Solid-state Lighting

The market uptake of solid-state lighting (SSL) is slow, even though it has many advantages and could deliver a variety of benefits to the society. The public sector is a large actor in the lighting market and could play an important role in accelerating SSL market penetration. Nevertheless, it faces many challenges to adopt SSL. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to provide a better understanding of these challenges and explore potential strategies to overcome them. Sweden is selectd as a focus country as it is a leading nation in adopting SSL. Overall, the public sector in Sweden faces several challenges to adopt SSL. The challenges and its underlying reasons are presented as below: (i) low confidence in SSL due to early technological shortcomings; (ii) risk averison due to uncertainties of product performance and benefits of SSL; (iii) conservative perspective on lighting due to limited awareness of SSL and its benefits; (iv) conservative perspective in prioritizing SSL health and well-being benefits due to limited attention; (v) difficulties in achieving inter-operation ability in innovative lighting solutions (SSL is part of the solution); (vi) high initial cost for outdoor and replacement lighting. To accelerate the transition towards SSL, following actions could be taken: (i) product performance testing standards improvement; (ii) minimum quality requirements scheme setting and market surveillance enhancement; (iii) demonstration projects with high replication potential; (iv) improve awareness and acceptance of SSL and its benefits among different actors; (v) develop standard and norms for lighting’s effect on human health and well-being; (vi) innovative public procurement to facilitate commercialization of innovative lighting solutions; (vii) strenthen SSL (and innovative lighting solution) value chain; (viii) privatepublic partnerships (PPP) to facilitate collaboration; (ix) product-servicing system as a new business model to facilitate solution-oriented approach; (x) increase financial support

Research analysis on the effects of agricultural water and landholdings to rural livelihoods in Indo-Gangetic Basin: with emphasis on Bihar State

Agricultural development / River basins / Water use / Irrigation water / Economic aspects / Land ownership / Water allocation / Models / Case studies / Policy / South Asia / India / Indo-Gangetic Basin